Monkey Economics

[Jacob]

A pop science write-up, but pretty interesting: http://www.zmescience.com/research/how-scientists-tught-monkeys-the-concept-of-money-not-long-after-the-first-prostitute-monkey-appeared/

Monkeys can be taught the concept of money.

Researchers observed that the monkeys could very well budget. Researchers then changed the market and put Jell-O at a lower price, to see if monkeys would buy less grapes and more Jell-O. They acted exactly like the current laws of economics dictate for humans as well.

They then taught them how to gamble, and saw they made the same irrational decisions a human gambler would make as well. The data generated by the capuchin monkeys, Chen says, "make them statistically indistinguishable from most stock-market investors."

Oh, and then again there's stealing too. Not a single monkey saved any of the tokens, but most of them tried to subtract a few more tokens when they were handed out. The monkeys were given tokens one at a time by inserting them in a separate chamber from that of their living quarters, but on one occasion everything sprung into chaos when a capuchin tried to make a run for it with a tray filled with tokens and ended up back with all the other monkeys. That was a tough time for researchers.

Something else happened then too, though, in what's maybe the most evident form of one's grasp upon currency. The idea is that you can use money as a form of currency to exchange for goods or services, as in not just food. Well, one of the researchers, during the chaos event, observed how one of the monkeys exchanged money to another for sex. After the act was over, the monkey which was paid immediately used it to buy a grape...

[DGuller]

She put out for one grape?  At least one monkey there hasn't learned to negotiate yet.

[MadImmortalMan]

The data generated by the capuchin monkeys, Chen says, "make them statistically indistinguishable from most stock-market investors."

This I completely believe.

[garbon]

She put out for one grape?  At least one monkey there hasn't learned to negotiate yet.

Mistakes of youth.

[Siege]

[CountDeMoney]

Oh, and then again there's stealing too. Not a single monkey saved any of the tokens, but most of them tried to subtract a few more tokens when they were handed out.

So, not unlike Wall Street.

one of the monkeys exchanged money to another for sex. After the act was over, the monkey which was paid immediately used it to buy a grape.

The oldest profession, indeed.